Trinidad defeats Joppy, then grants Hopkins' wish

NEW YORK (AP) Bernard Hopkins felt like he hit the lottery. William Joppy must have felt like he was hit by an iron bar.

As a result, Hopkins will face Felix Trinidad in a fight for the undisputed middleweight championship on Sept. 15 at Madison Square Garden.

Joppy got more than enough of Trinidad early Sunday morning in the Garden. He was knocked down three times and stopped in the fifth round, losing the WBA middleweight title to the unbeaten Puerto Rican, who now has held world championships in three weight classes.

Hopkins had won the opening fight of promoter Don King's middleweight championship tournament when he retained the IBF crown and won the WBC title by outpointing Keith Holmes on April 14.

''Now there are two fighters left Felix Trinidad and Bernard Hopkins,'' Trinidad said. ''It's going to be one hell of a fight.''

A victory over the brawling Hopkins would add even more sparkle to the brilliant career of the 28-year-old Trinidad. He has been a champion for nearly eight years, wearing welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight crowns.

Despite being a middleweight champion since 1994, Hopkins has been overshadowed by fighters such as Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya.

''Is this the marquee name I need?'' Hopkins asked rhetorically.

Joining Hopkins at ringside were heavyweight champions Hasim Rahman and John Ruiz, and former champion Evander Holyfield. Rahman is managed by Steve Nelson and Stan Hoffman, managers of Joppy.

King has scheduled a news conference Monday to announce a heavyweight championship doubleheader in August in Beijing. Ruiz will defend the WBA title in a third fight with Holyfield. Rahman, who won the WBC and IBF titles by knocking out Lennox Lewis in the fifth round April 22 in South Africa, will defend against Brian Nielsen of Denmark.

''Don King gave me the best deal,'' Rahman said when asked on the TVKO pay-per-view telecast of the Trinidad-Joppy fight why he signed Friday with the flamboyant promoter.

Cedric Kushner, who promoted Rahman's victory over Lewis, contends he still has a contract with the fighter. There is litigation about Lewis getting a rematch he claims was called for in his deal with Rahman.

Rahman, Ruiz and Holyfield saw a spectacular performance by Trinidad.

Fighters often can't carry their power or their ability to take a punch when they move up in weight. Trinidad, who held IBF and WBC welterweight (147 pounds) title and was the WBA and IBF junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion, promised he would be better in the 160-pound middleweight division.

Was he ever!

''I never thought he could hit like that,'' said Joppy (32-2-1), of Silver Spring, Md.,, who did not attend the post-fight news conference. ''I never thought he would have that kind of power moving up from 154 to 160. I've never been hit like that before.''

Trinidad, who at Friday's weigh-in was 1591/4, a half-pound heavier than his opponent, knocked Joppy down late in the first round, but didn't have time to finish him off. Joppy boxed his way back into the fight in the second and third rounds, but Trinidad took him out of it with a knockdown in the fourth, then completed the job at 2:25 of the fifth.

What Trinidad treated the Garden crowd of 18,225 to was a clinic of precision and power. He scored his 33rd knockout in upping his record to 40-0.

Joppy was credited by a CompuBox analysis with throwing 400 punches and landing 123 74 of them jabs. Trinidad threw only 191 punches, but landed 108, 80 of them power shots.